Push up those Armani shades and tighten your white trousers, the Dustbot is coming to wash the scum off the streets like a Segway riding Travis Bickle. Give him a call from your mobile and the Dustbot will come to your house and dispose of the rubbish. At least that's the plan for this Italian disposal-bot fitted with GPS navigation,
gyroscope, and a bevy of sensors meant to keep it from crushing the innocents. Look, we get that it's a prototype and is meant to traverse the narrow streets of ancient cities, but a trash collecting robot with the capacity of just two kitchen cans seems like a serious limitation. Watch the long slow ride after the break.
[Thanks, Craig]
posted May 29th 2009 7:37AM
this is nice...
much2 better...
Barbara is a hot robb-but-teer!
hoho
Smart idea. Only work in europe and asia though........ There are no good folk who wouldnt turn this into "dealerbot" in a short time here in the us....... Although it might be good because my pot dealer isnt as approachable as this thing would be.
Wall-E Wall-E!!
No, its Wall-E's Euro cousin, "Le Wall-E". Le Wall-E differs from Wall-E in that he suffers from deep existential angst and has a penchant for panini and neutella.
If that means that Americans are shallow and have no taste for food... then... Ok.
I love nutella btw, can't remember seeing in it on the shelves in US supermarkets though..
@tim
You'll find Nutella is in stores all over NYC. I can get most of my favourite Euro foods here, unlike in London!!
Why not just walk it outside? the trash that is. They say us americans are lazy bums.
I can see these things being hijacked and running amuck unless they have very good security. Or at the very least tagged so to speak.
the idea is to provide old-fashion neighborhoods that have only walkways ( no roads, just cramped space ) with a method to transport garbage. (Think garbage truck for places where normal vehicles cant travel)
You did watch the video I take it? You do have to walk outside....
You got me, I didn't. I took some liberties from the headlines. I usually can't watch videos here at work.
I just assumed you put it in bin in your house and it took care of it from there.
EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!!
There is a lot of people shaped Eurotrash I which this robot could sweep up.....
Can we begin with you?
This compared to Brisbane's CY2026 "trash"...
Paint it lime green and you have a walking billboard for Android.
Real live wall-e?
RUBISH!!!
It's cute, but seems like a colossal waste of time and money. If they can't get a big garbage truck into certain areas, just hire someone to do the rounds with a small cart that can carry say, 20 garbage bags.
You think that'd be cheaper? You have to pay the human. The vehicle costs money, and needs gas. How much do you think such a simple robot would cost?
Dear Engadget,
your attempts at "humor" are sad and pathetic. The use of "Eurotrash" is INSULTING.
Then again I suppose you feel the need to separate us Europeans, after all there is no point to using a word like "Americantrash" seeing as how the ENTIRE US is filled with trash.
the primary meaning of "eurotrash" in america does not refer to europeans per se at all, but fashion victims at nightclubs. ie, it's a simple pun. i've never heard it applied to a norwegian, in any case. think of sacha baron cowen's Bruno.
You may want to do a little digging around for cultural context before you open your mou.... err, begin pressing keys.
It really isn't something aimed at you and yours. Besides, most of us don't really have low opinions about Europe, most of us wish we could take an extended trip out there. The only people here who have any real animosity for you guys are WT assholes who have never left their own damn state.
Besides even if it was an insult, it just doesn't carry the same weight as some of the more fun ones.
I originally read the article title as "Takes out Eurotrash" and started laughing. Then I realized what it really said and it wasn't funny anymore. I'm not a fan of European culture, but I do like all the locales. I also like Britain's got Talent.
i wonder if this has anything to do with Naples's long-running garbage problems:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7385282.stm
the trash collection industry in the south is controlled by the mafia. imagine joe pesci going to town on one of these with a baseball bat.
robot: woooosh!!!
man on bike: wtf?
"the Dustbot is coming to wash the scum off the streets like a Segway riding Travis Bickle" I'm just commenting to say I like when you guys write clever lines like this. Good job and keep it up.
They'll have to make a special bullet-proof Napoli edition to counter all the death threats from the Naple's garbage mafia...